Phillip StearnsAn artist working with electronics and electronic media, based in Brooklyn, NY

Macular Degeneration (2010)

A collection of 5.1 surround works created during an artist residency at Harvestworks (NYC 2010) that explores immersive sound fields generated using only analog mixer feedback through outboard effects units. The project consists of 5 compositions each delving into different sonic terrains experienced as sound in its raw state: the primal screams of audio production equipment, inaudible noise is amplified and distorted into chaotic oscillations.

These works are compositions in the sense that they are sound objects, meticulously prepared soundscapes using intuitively guided chance procedures and intentionally pre-meditated actions performed following a set of gestural forms. The focus of the works is not to exploit the 5.1 surround sound setup by panning sounds madly about the sound field, rather to create a more subtle envelopment, a space where the listener can enter the sound field on a phenomenological and subjective level. These are currents of sound, records of improvised structures on three levels: technical system design, intuitive listening, and performative decision making.

The compositional process involved gathering a collection of assorted professional studio equipment, the kinds of gear you would typically associate with imparting certain characteristics upon a sound. Time was spent creating various feedback paths from output to input; the idea being that by feeding back this equipment, its inner voice, its true voice would be liberated. The next phase was to configure the individual devices in a feedback matrix facilitated by a mixer (which had its own chorus of voices), and a patch bay to fold signals into themselves. Larger systems with their own unique soundscapes began to emerge. As a performer it was my job to listen and explore the terrain these systems produced.